I forgot about that, so I looked into that option again. I do have to say that it is not as user friendly but I will see if I can get it going, need to cure my curiosity now. The reason I use Backcountry Navigator Pro is so I can see position updates along with the GPX of the trails I am doing on one screen, though all I use is a topo map. I use another app for street navigation.
Anyone using APRS?
- Thread starter Charlie W2YBX
- Start date
Member III
I might like to play with the APRS beacons on Backcountry Nav, just haven't spent a lot of time looking at how to mix the two.
Member III
So I've got my TM-D710G going and it's working out pretty good. I'm having some issues with the QSY setup though. When I set it to encode the QSY into the message itself, I can't get a good position packet passed to show in aprs.fi and there isn't anyone locally who uses APRS to know if my packets are good and would work or not. It works fine with the built in QSY turned off though. But again I need someone locally to figure out if it works if I build the QSY data into my message instead of using the built in setup.
Otherwise I'm loving the Kenwood. It's a great radio and I'm happy I went with it.
Otherwise I'm loving the Kenwood. It's a great radio and I'm happy I went with it.
Member III
Member III
That's what I'm going to do but I had hoped it would do it automatically so I wouldn't have to edit the message when I changed frequency while driving. I monitor 520 when I'm not at an OB event and the local simplex frequency of 147.555 when I'm around town.
Traveler II
I use APRS.
When radio shopping I knew I did not want to use APRS through the radio head since I had a Mobilinkd Bluetooth TNC. For the radio, I wanted a true dual bander that was capable of TX and RX on both sides of the radio at the same time. I chose the Kenwood TM-V71A radio and hooked the Mobilinkd TNC to the radio via a data cable sold by Mobilinkd. The TNC is powered by 12v, sits in my center console and is programmed to turn on when power is detected and turn off when power is lost (the TNC has an internal battery). I run an Android based stereo radio and use the APRSDroid app to control the TNC right from the dash. Since Backcountry Navigator can start/stop APRSDroid and integrate the APRS data on the map, it is easy to keep track of other APRS stations when traveling in the back country.
When radio shopping I knew I did not want to use APRS through the radio head since I had a Mobilinkd Bluetooth TNC. For the radio, I wanted a true dual bander that was capable of TX and RX on both sides of the radio at the same time. I chose the Kenwood TM-V71A radio and hooked the Mobilinkd TNC to the radio via a data cable sold by Mobilinkd. The TNC is powered by 12v, sits in my center console and is programmed to turn on when power is detected and turn off when power is lost (the TNC has an internal battery). I run an Android based stereo radio and use the APRSDroid app to control the TNC right from the dash. Since Backcountry Navigator can start/stop APRSDroid and integrate the APRS data on the map, it is easy to keep track of other APRS stations when traveling in the back country.
Enthusiast I
I've been driving around for a couple of weeks with APRS running on my FTM-400XDR. What I really like is my wife can see my location on aprs.fi. I also hit further repeaters than I can in voice. Meaning that the potential to get basic messages out, further away, is possible.
Enthusiast II
- 595
- First Name
- Robert
- Last Name
- Snyder
- Member #
-
11169
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KM6SJV
APRS is a useful tool in different ways. I'm involved with Summits on the Air (SOTA) and use if primarily for other Hams to track me to a summit. But it does come in handy when cell is out of the question. Texting simple/basic information to others may help when help is needed.
Enthusiast II
KC9QOW
I'm new to overlanding and Overland Bound but have used APRS many times with a friend to chase our high altitude balloons that we launch. We used to send balloons skyward a lot from about 10 years ago up until just a couple of years ago.
I use a Kenwood HT with Moblinkd, APRSDroid, and a tablet to track the balloon and will run APRSDroid on my phone so that people can track the chase vehicle.
I'm new to overlanding and Overland Bound but have used APRS many times with a friend to chase our high altitude balloons that we launch. We used to send balloons skyward a lot from about 10 years ago up until just a couple of years ago.
I use a Kenwood HT with Moblinkd, APRSDroid, and a tablet to track the balloon and will run APRSDroid on my phone so that people can track the chase vehicle.
Member III
I was playing around with my APRS setups this evening. Using an old tablet and a Baofeng UV-5R I was able to send an APRS message to my TM-D710GA in my Xterra.
I was also able to display the location of the Xterra on Backcountry Navigator on the tablet via received packets and the built in APRSDroid functionality. I had been considering getting Gaia but now that I've seen that ability in BCN, I'm leaning more toward their setup. Now I need to get my TM-D710GA to pass packet info on to the tablet somehow. I'm going to keep researching that but I'm beginning to think a RS232-USB converter to a USB hub to both charge the tablet and pass waypoint info may be the way to go but this is just preliminary reasoning and not founded on any actual functionality that I'm aware of just yet.
I was also able to display the location of the Xterra on Backcountry Navigator on the tablet via received packets and the built in APRSDroid functionality. I had been considering getting Gaia but now that I've seen that ability in BCN, I'm leaning more toward their setup. Now I need to get my TM-D710GA to pass packet info on to the tablet somehow. I'm going to keep researching that but I'm beginning to think a RS232-USB converter to a USB hub to both charge the tablet and pass waypoint info may be the way to go but this is just preliminary reasoning and not founded on any actual functionality that I'm aware of just yet.
Member III
This weekend I went on a trail ride with some other OB members near Winchester. Another member, @theorangekl (Anthony) was also the and running APRS. We talked before hand and decided to play with our setups during the trip to explore APRS some more.
Anthony arrived at group camp the night before and was monitoring both APRS and 460 Saturday morning as my group traveled to camp before going on to the trail head. On our way in I received a message from him of his screen name and sent him a message with how far out we were. I was still about 30min from camp at that point and I think we were both pretty excited to make that "first contact" with our new toys.
With him second in line on the trail and me bringing up the rear, we were able to keep an eye on the groups seperation. Also with @KAC as trail boss on 460 simplex we could let traffic pass us in either direction and make sure the group stayed together with ease.
After the ride, the majority of the group headed back to camp but I went to a Food Lion for camp eats. On the way Anthony sent me a message with APRS to let me know he'd be monitoring with his HT at camp.
This was a great experience for me as a Ham. I'd done some looking online at what can be done with APRS but this was a fun way to see it in action. I can really see where this would be good for large groups in bigger areas. I'm looking forward to getting some kind of mapping setup to go along with it for a visual cue but the calculated distances on my TM-D710G were still useful.
I hope I can go on more rides with people running APRS just to continue exploring what's possible with it and how to get the most out of it on the trail.
Anthony arrived at group camp the night before and was monitoring both APRS and 460 Saturday morning as my group traveled to camp before going on to the trail head. On our way in I received a message from him of his screen name and sent him a message with how far out we were. I was still about 30min from camp at that point and I think we were both pretty excited to make that "first contact" with our new toys.
With him second in line on the trail and me bringing up the rear, we were able to keep an eye on the groups seperation. Also with @KAC as trail boss on 460 simplex we could let traffic pass us in either direction and make sure the group stayed together with ease.
After the ride, the majority of the group headed back to camp but I went to a Food Lion for camp eats. On the way Anthony sent me a message with APRS to let me know he'd be monitoring with his HT at camp.
This was a great experience for me as a Ham. I'd done some looking online at what can be done with APRS but this was a fun way to see it in action. I can really see where this would be good for large groups in bigger areas. I'm looking forward to getting some kind of mapping setup to go along with it for a visual cue but the calculated distances on my TM-D710G were still useful.
I hope I can go on more rides with people running APRS just to continue exploring what's possible with it and how to get the most out of it on the trail.
Last edited:
Member III
You got that “monitoring my ht” message? My radio said it didn’t reach you. I’m glad you got it though!
Member III
Yeah! Single hop off an I-gate IIRC. I'll have to check my log. I replied and thought I got the "ack" from your 400.
Member III
Hmm. That’s odd. I got a tx out message which usually means the radio tried to send it 5 times and couldn’t reach you.
Member III
Explorer I
For the first time I joined in on the Echolink discussion (Friday) and that got me all excited so I restored my iGate over the weekend and it is filling in really well.
Last edited:
You can do this in the radio settings I will try to find a screen shot.
Go into the settings, APRS - Status Text it' screen 608 I believe. Where you see TEXT: add [Freq MHz]
For Example:
TEXT: [Freq MHz] - OB Member 1234
TX RATE: 1/1
Good luck... We use it all the time. Especially if someone reaches a designated camping spot before others. It is nice for them to see how far away we are.
Here I am on APRS.FI, Station info for K1LDR-9 – Google Maps APRS You can see the stand by frequency I was on in the comment section. As that changes on my radio the message will change.
Last edited:
Explorer I
I have a couple TMD700a's and don't see that they support this functionality - but they might. :) If I remember will give a try later in the day when I get home to see what I can see.
@1Louder - point of clarification. Your raw APRS data shows no space between the frequency and the - (dash) but your screenshot above looks like there is one in there. Does the space between the freq and the dash exist in the radio setting and get stripped out somewhere? Also I assume that "[Freq MHz]" is a placeholder for something like "146.535MHz" or does the radio replace "146.535MHz" with your non-data band current freq?
Member III
I got my 710 doing the QSY automatically with the setting in the radio where it adds frequency, tone and offset itself from for voice channel. I'm not in a great coverage area at the house so I had to drift around some to find a good spot to play with the setup.
You'll have to check the manual on your 700 as I'm not sure what features changed between the two. If you enter [Freq MHz] in the 710 it will enter the frequency from the non- data side of the radio. There are other commands to enter the tone and offset as well but the QSY setting will do it automatically.
Explorer I
Thanks! Searched the TM-D700 manual and found no mention of the QSY feature but did see a few things on the internet that indicated it would work.
That was the answer that I was hoping for - makes it a lot more automated/nicer. I'll give it a whirl on my 700s when I get home and see what I can learn. Cool feature!
